Supportive-Care Hospital Visits Linked to Better Patient Outcomes

(HealthDay News) — Hospital supportive-care visits from a primary care physician result in lower risks of adverse patient outcomes, according to a study published online Feb. 23 in the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

Stacey S. Brener, from the University of Toronto, and colleagues analyzed administrative data from 164,059 hospitalized adults (from 2008 to 2009) and 3,236 primary care physicians who conduct supportive visits. They determined differences in composite outcomes of death, emergency department visit, or emergent readmission within 30 and 90 days between patients who received a visit from their primary care physician while hospitalized and those who those who did not.

The researchers found that 12 percent of patients received visits while hospitalized. Visited patients had more readmissions, more deaths, and fewer emergency department visits than patients who were not visited. After adjustment, visited patients had a lower risk for the composite outcome at 30 days (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.92) and 90 days (aOR, 0.9). In addition, visited patients were more likely to access community primary care provider visits and more home-care services.